This was, I assume, to have been Menuhins
third complete cycle of the sonatas
 the others had been with Kempff
and Kentner Ė but in the end it didnít
materialise and so we have just the
four, though the Menuhin duo also recorded
the sixth, which is not here. Given
that they were recorded late in Menuhinís
violinistic life one might anticipate
considerable evidence of frailty. Actually
though there are obviously some such
moments, itís largely the case that
these are deeply humane and musically
rewarding performances that whilst they
fail to summon up the tonal glories
of Menuhinís youth manage to confer
instead an accumulated wisdom and perception.†

The Spring is generously phrased,
Jeremy Menuhin playing with real verve,
and the engineers ensuring that the
balance between the instruments is a
reasonable one, although one that is
more generous to the violinist. The
unhurried ease is typical of Yehudiís
way with the sonatas and the gemŁtlich
spirit and the agogics are faithfully
employed by father and son Ė note too
the wealth of detail extracted in Jeremyís
left hand voicings. The slow movement
is a touching demonstration of Menuhinís
warmth Ė though his bowing is badly
exposed, and in long bow he canít any
longer maintain absolute steadiness.
The finale is unhurried and relaxed,
if also beset with a few bowing difficulties.

In the Kreutzer, recorded at
the same sessions as the Spring,
there are strong hints of ponderousness
in articulation and tempo relations.
The fabled tone of old has now withered
to a much more constricted and colour-reduced
form. Though the middle movement has
glimpses of the old Menuhin the finale
has too many intonation and bowing slips
for comfort. In these 1985 sessions
itís the slighter of the two sonatas
that proves the more winning and resilient.

Tone colours are muted in Op.96 recorded
the following year, though there are
some fine attacks and some expressive
legato usage. The instincts in the Adagio
cantabile are admirable but once
more bowing difficulties and fundamental
problems over tone production conspire
to limit enthusiasm, finely though Jeremy
plays Ė and Iím sure the brassy attacks
in the finale need not sound quite so
uncomfortably steely. The C minor sees
the violinist struggling with some of
the passagework and in the slow movement
itís quite distressing to hear how slow
the vibrato has become and how relatively
starved.

This and other reissues in this uniform
series are composer not artist led.
Thereís a Zukerman-Barenboim twofer
of Nos.7, 8, 9 and 10, in the same batch,
coupled with the Tchaikovsky Trio with
du Prť (see review)
though I find the sonatas a bit sugary.

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